Can't Buy Me Love
by mouth24
Summary: What happens when the most unknown girl in school pays the most popular to be friends with her? Are emotions genuine when money is involved? Follow Beca and Chloe through the hallways of high school and something that starts off as a simple transaction to see what it's like to be popular transpires into something worth more than either can afford.
1. Chapter 1

_A/N: So I have a love for classics and I love Can't Buy Me Love from the 80s. I was watching it the other day and decided in the famous words of Beca Mitchell "Let's remix this business". Sooo for anyone who also knows and loves the movie there are bits that follow but more that don't...soooooo without further waiting..._

 _Can't Buy Me Love!_

Beca scrolled through her phone looking for one of her mixes to listen to while sitting at a table in a semi secluded area outside on the quad while everyone else ate their lunches and conversed. Her scrolling came to a halt as someone slid in next to her at the table she was sitting at. She didn't need to look up to know that her best friend Jesse sitting next to her. She stopped her music and took her headphones from over her ears to let them hang from her neck.

Jesse has been her best friend since preschool and was alright being an outcast to their school with her. The two were nobodies at their school. As their classmates all found their niches in the cast system of popularity in high school, Beca and Jesse had their own. Beca's passion being music and creating mixes, while Jesse's was also music, but more of knowing the vast knowledge of cutting and scoring movies.

It was the first day of their senior year and just like the previous three years of high school the duo was already unnoticed by everyone. For as long as Beca and Jesse have been friends this has never been an issue for them, except this being their senior year it seemed looking back that they wanted to try and have some amazing memories to look back on. Like the fact that any sporting event they have ever attending, as hard as it is to believe they even went, they spent the games in the visitor's section.

"How were your morning classes?" Jesse asked as he pulled out his sack lunch and reached into the paper bag for his peanut butter and jelly sandwich. He handed half to Beca as he started to nibble off the other.

Beca sighed holding the sandwich up in front of her as if trying to figure out which side to take a bite from before answering. "You know, same old same old bullshit."

Jesse chuckled a little bit took a drink of milk and then turned to look at Beca. "Any of those classes have a certain redhead in them?" His eyebrows shooting up in amusement as Beca scowled and nodded.

She still regretted ever telling Jesse about her crush. Beca didn't regret the fact he knew she was out, but she regretted the fact he got out of her who she had feelings for. Not that he couldn't have ever guessed it since Jesse had caught Beca staring in a trans at times at her ginger crush. He had even found when shuffling through Beca's playlists on her phone that she had an playlist even named red and blue, which was super weird to him since all the other playlists were classified by dates. When he had asked her about that particular playlist though she freaked out on him and didn't talk to him for about a week because she had accused him of snooping. After a week though she caved to talk to him again because life and school without him were super lonely.

Beca's eyes lifted up and looked across the cafeteria to look to the table where her biggest inspiration and crush was seated. The redhead who was constantly on her mind but she had no chance of ever dating let alone talking to. Chloe Beale was her name and she was everything that a high school girl ultimately could be. She was the most popular girl in school the co-captain to the cheerleading squad as well as the schools acapella club. Not to mention she was probably one of the most genuine and nicest people that Beca has ever met in her life. Not that Beca has ever talked to her, nor has she even been within 10 feet of the girl. Even in classes they had together Beca always sat in the farthest away possible seat just because Chloe always seemed to be surrounded by so many people.

Chloe was also dating Tom Walker who had been the ultimate athlete star of Barden High. He had graduated the previous year and went on to accept a full ride scholarship to an stuffy preppy college. Well that's what Beca tried to tell herself anyways since about 5 different colleges were begging for Tom to attend there. Even now his first year at his University he was making the news as a star athlete, which made Chloe even more popular at the school since she was dating a nationally known star athlete. Beca scoffed in her mind knowing she would never be able to compete with someone like Tom, especially since as far as Beca knew Chloe was straight, but it didn't mean she couldn't have a crush or admire the girl from afar.

She was brought out of her thought clouds be a gentle nudge from Jessie. Oh right, Jesse, what did he ask her again? Oh right, classes.

"Yeah, somehow fate has decided to sync our schedules perfectly," Beca sighed. She'd much rather not have class with the girl, only because all she had to listen to this morning was the hundreds of questions being asked to Chloe about Tom and how wonderful and amazing the jockstrap was.

Jesse laughed though at his friends grumpy huff of a reply. "Ah Beca, don't even pretend like you don't like it." Beca shot him a glare which he just shrugged at and he turned to look over at the popular kids.

"You know," His voice breaking the short silence, "maybe this year we should actually try?" His voice raising in a question at the end.

"Try what?" Beca scoffed clearly knowing where Jesse was going with this. "Try to fit in with a bunch of students who clearly don't acknowledge that we even exist? Sorry Jess, but I'd rather just stick to my mixes."

Jesse sighed, "Beca, I don't want to look back on High School and wonder what if…" His voice soft. "I want to know what it's like to take a chance like Julia Roberts in Pretty woman."

"Are you saying we should become prostitutes?" Beca laughed somehow knowing the movie reference even though she thought they were predictable and pointless.

"No," Jesse chuckled a little bit, "I'm not saying that I was kind of seeing if you'd know the movie, but what I mean besides that is that she took a chance in that movie to try and become someone who she wasn't to try and fit in with a different class. She was given a chance and she took it. All I'm saying is…" He paused looked over to Beca then back to the popular kids. "If we're given a chance to this year we should take it!"

Beca didn't agree nor did she exactly bite down the idea either. There have been so many years that she wondered if she would ever get noticed or have a chance to fit in. She had never really tried before and nor did it ever matter to her prior to fit in, but something about Jesse's words about not wanting to live with regrets and asking what if really resonated with her like a sick base beat.

Jesse cleared his throat ready to change the subject to a lighter topic. "Soooo," his voice drawing out the o's in an excited manner. "How close are you to being able to buy your new mixing board?"

Beca's posture relaxed and a genuine smile started to grow before she realized it and turned it into a smirk. "Just about there, I just have like $50 more dollars to go and it's mine!" Her lighter and happier compared to her usual sarcasm.

"Awesome!" Jesse's voice enthusiastic. "How many more lawns do you have to mow and bushes do you have to trim up?"

Even though Beca worked at a radio station she was paid next to nothing and for the aspiring DJ and producer having a new mixing board was a must. She has been saving since last spring and was able to mow different neighbors lawns and do some lawn care also to save up, since her dad wasn't willing to indulge her silly hobby as he liked to put it. Beca wasn't one for doing much physical labor, but she was determined to get the newest mixing board because she knew she would be able to do that much more for her mixes and music once she had it and the software program that came along with it.

"I have just like one or two to do after school today to do to reach my goal! So I might need a ride tomorrow after school to go buy it."

"Oh for sure dude!" Jesse said zipping up his backpack as lunch was just about over. When he finished he set his backpack on his lap and turned to Beca, "So has it been weird having to take care of Chloe's lawn all summer and never once talking to her? I still don't see how that's even possible, I mean the girl is so friendly!"

Beca rolled her eyes at her friend before answering. "Well it's easy when said person is gone for most of the summer to camp, which in a way I'm grateful for."

Jesse quirked a brow in question at his friend. So Beca continued.

"No weirdness then for me and plus her parents were working, so I was able to get a lot of work done faster." Beca tried explaining.

"Oh you mean, you wouldn't get caught staring at Chloe if she was out tanning in her bathing suit?" Jesse teased earning him a punch to the shoulder from Beca as she got up from their table to head back into the building since the bell had just rung. Beca's shoulders slumped a little, back to class it was.

"So Chloe, what are you going to wear to Bumper's back to school party tonight?" Stacie asked as she plopped down onto Chloe's bed sprawling her long toned limbs in every direction.

Chloe gave a sigh, "I don't know, nothing seems to catch my attention." She was standing in her walk-in closet pushing hangers out of the way to look at the next outfit.

"Still haven't heard from Tom?" Aubrey bluntly asked taking a poised seated position on Chloe's bed next to Stacie.

Chloe popped her head out of her closet with a frown. "No, I mean he's been really distant lately and I think it's mostly just from all the training camp hours he has had to put in."

"Or all the girls he's been putting it in," Stacie mumbled softly but not quite softly enough to earn a smack from Aubrey and a glare.

Luckily Chloe hadn't heard her and was already back in her closet onto the next rack of clothes. All of a sudden her head popped out again and she had a worried look on her face.

"Oh my Gosh guys! Her voice shrill, what time is it?!" Chloe darted out of the closet and over to her tv grabbing the remote and heading over to sit on her bed next to Stacie and Aubrey. "I completely forgot that ESPN was doing an interview with Tom today at 4:30! Fat Amy Just texted me! Channel 5!"

Aubrey looked over to the clock to see it was 4:31.

Chloe fumbled through stations but finally found the ESPN station and there on her TV screen was her boyfriend smiling into camera next to a news anchor.

Stacie groans, "Ughhh Chloe, you're soo lucky! Does he buy you tons of stuff with all the money he's making?"

"Shhh! He's on He's ON!" Chloe squealed in excitement.

"So Tom, I we have covered almost everything in this interview, but I have one last question for you," The news anchor paused to see Tom give a small nod, "which is living somewhere new, what is the one special thing that you miss about the old home town?"

"O. . GEEEEE! He's going to say you're name on national tv CHLOE!" Aubrey screeched excitedly next to a bouncing Chloe.

"Do you mind if I get a little personal?" Tom started and the girls squealed. "What I really miss the most always made me feel soooo good after all of my games" Even bigger squeals erupted. "Is that old hydromassage machine we had in the school gym."

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Stacie and Aubrey screeched while Chloe looked down her heart shattering just a little bit.

"Well Tom, I bet the old school misses you too! Thank you for your time today Tom and good luck with your season." The anchor turns towards the camera. "Back to you in the studio"

Aubrey grabbed the remote from Chloe and immediately turned off the TV and turned to Chloe in comfort. "Aww Chloe."

Chloe quickly shook it off and put a smile on her face that didn't quite meet her eyes. "Don't worry guys! It's not like a felony to not mention your girlfriend!" She shrugged. "Really it's no big deal." She tried to persuade the duo that was giving her odd looks.

Chloe jumped up from her bed and headed back to her closet too look for something to wear again. "Now come on and help me figure out what I should wear tonight!"

A sudden knock at the door stopped all three girls in Chloe's closet on their mission to find Chloe something to wear for the party. Chloe's mom stuck her head into the room with a smile stretching across her face. Chloe was like a younger version of her mom in physical appearance from the red curls to the blue eyes although Chloe's seemed to be a little bit bigger and brighter and held just a little more life and light in them.

"Hey Girls!" Her mom's cheery voice breaking a silence.

"Oh hey Ms. Beale!" Aubrey and Stacie answered.

Ms. Beale pushed open the bedroom door and leaned against the door frame crossing her arms across her chest.

"Need something mom?" Chloe asked smiling at her mom.

Chloe's mom chuckled a little before answering, "I just want to remind you that I'm going on a dinner date this evening."

"Oh yeah! Get it Ms. Beale!" Stacie said giving Chloe's mom a wink.

Chloe's mom chuckled a little bit while Aubrey gave her an elbow and a disapproving look. Chloe meanwhile whispered a gross to Stacie's remark then looked over to her mom.

"Yeah, I remember." Chloe assured her mom also giving a little nod.

"Ok good! Also, the girl who has been doing lawn care for us all summer is going to be stopping by this evening to finish up trimming the grass and some hedges." Chloe gave her mom an inquisitive look as if asking how this was her issue. "I'm going to need to you to give her, the money I'll be leaving for her when she's done."

Chloe nodded "Sure, but hopefully it isn't too late…" She gives a pause as her mom gives her a look. "Bumper's having a back to school party…and I was going to stop by to make an appearance."

Chloe's mom smiled and nodded. "Don't worry she never really stays too late. You might know her, since you go to school together. Rebecca Mitchell?"

All three girls cocked their heads to the side and then looked at each other trying to figure out if any of them had heard of her before. They looked back to Chloe's mom all with confused faces.

Chloe's mom just smiled at them then pushed off the door frame. "Well I'm going to go start getting ready for my date! You girls have fun tonight!" She turned and started to head to her own room. "And Chloe, curfew is 11 since it's a school night."

Chloe shook her head with a smile before answering with a "Yes Mom."

Stacie and Aubrey both hollered out a "See you later Ms Beale! Good luck with your date!"

"Thanks Girls!" Ms. Beale sang out.

"I still can't believe how much of a MILF your mom is!" Stacie gushed turning to Chloe.

Chloe shrugged, "It's the Yoga-laties." She turned back to the rack and pulled hangers across the rod with a frown. "Guys, I'm never going to find anything to wear tonight."

"What about this?" Aubrey pulled out a conservative blue dress.

Stacie rolled her eyes, "Yeah only if she was going to church maybe." Aubrey frowned and put the dress back while Chloe laughed.

"What about this combo?" Stacie said holding up low cut blouse and short skirt.

Aubrey huffed out, "Yeah and that if she wants to get some dollars tucked into her panties."

Chloe laughed at the two, "Come on you two, this is serious."

She pulled a few hangers until she found a top she had bought a week ago. "What about this?" She pulled it off rod and held it up for the duo to see. The two tilted their heads a little bit. Chloe turned and pulled a black skirt and held it underneath. Stacie and Aubrey both smiled and nodded in approval.

 _A/N: Starting with T...buuuuut will probably go to M if enough people want the details later._


	2. Chapter 2

The trio hung out for a couple more hours until Stacie and Aubrey decided that they should head home to get ready themselves. They agreed that Chloe would pick them all up at 8pm before heading over to Bumper's house for the party. Chloe walked down to the front yard with the two when something caught their eyes through the window in the front yard.

There was a tiny brunette on a riding mower with huge DJ style headphones riding back and forth cutting the grass.

"That must be the Rebecca my mom was talking about," Chloe offered to the two.

"She looks like trouble," Aubrey said taking in the little brunette wearing some well broken in jeans, and a black 80s band tshirt that she had cut the sleeves off which showed off multiple tattoos.

"I think she looks like a sexy little badass," Stacie interjected.

Aubrey and Chloe both looked over to Stacie who just shrugged at them in a "what?". Chloe laughed and then ushered them over to the door pushing them out and saying see you later. As the two girls walked to their cars, Beca looked up from the mower for a second taking both girls in. She then looked over to the door where they came from to see Chloe who gave a small wave to her friends before she looked over to connect eyes with Beca. Beca jerked her head down quickly again returning her attention to mowing the grass.

Chloe turned back into the house with the intentions of heading up to her room when she was passing the windows again. She stopped again as the girl mowing the lawn caught her attention yet again. Chloe tilted her head in thought, she didn't remember this girl at all even though her mom said she went to school with her. She racked her brain and took in the girls appearance again.

Stacie was right that the girl definitely looked badass and she would never admit it out loud…but she thought Rebecca was…in Stacie's word…yeah it won't make it weird if it was Stacie's words and she was just not really disagreeing with her thoughts…just merely agreeing. Chloe took her in more in detail trying to still place the girl. She took in the girls toned arms which Chloe figured had something to do with the lawn work she's had to do for her mom, she couldn't make out what the tattoos were from the distance but she was intrigued to see them closer absentmindedly rubbing her thumb of her left hand on her right wrist where she has a ladybug tattoo. Chloe could only smile as the little brunette nodded her head and along to whatever she was listening to and every now and then mouthing the words her hands drumming along to whatever beats and rhythms were pumping through her big headphones.

She was brought out of her stupor by her phone going off in her pocket chiming that she had a new text. Chloe shook her head and reached for her phone in her butt pocket to swipe to see a message from her mom.

"Have fun tonight! Stay out of my closet!  
Chloe shook her head and laughed a little bit at her mom's message before sending an "ok :)" back.

She trudged up the stairs to her room and looked at the outfit she had laid out on her bed tilting her head from side to side thinking about what she could wear for shoes with it. Walking back over to her walk-in closest she went over to her shoe shelf and scanned all her shoes not seeing anything that really went well with it. A pair of black pumps caught her eye so she grabbed them to try them on. Chloe huffed out in irritation as she realized that they were one of her older pairs so they didn't fit very well anymore. She pulled them off and tossed them out of her closet and turned back to the rack.

She was tilting her head from side to side when she heard the doorbell ring. A sigh left her lips as she was a little thankful for the little brain break and pushed herself up from the carpet to go answer the door.

Beca kept nervously shifting her weight from foot to foot as she stood outside the Beale house. She knew Chloe was home since she saw her earlier when her two friends Stacie and Aubrey were leaving. She also knew that Chloe's mom had left and to get her money for her work today she would have to actually talk to Chloe, which is something that had never happened in all the years the two have gone to school together or the many classes they have shared. Beca always just kept to herself and avoided her. She wasn't sure what kind of bumbling idiot she would turn into in the redheads presence, she frowned as she heard footsteps because she knew she would soon find out. She couldn't help the slight flutter she felt in her chest and stomach though at the thought of being so close and finally having a chance to talk to the redhead though either.

She kicked her foot absentmindedly as she looked down pensively drowning in her thoughts, her hands tucked into her pockets. The door opened suddenly and Beca's vision was met with bare feet. Her eyes pop up quickly to be met with the friendliest bright blue eyes Beca has ever seen in her life.

The bright eyes were met with stormy blue surrounded with heavy eyeliner. Chloe smiled at the girl in front of her. The girls dark blue eyes holding so much in them that Chloe couldn't quite define at one quick glance. She knew though after getting a better look at Rebecca that she's had classes with her in the past and now and that the girl has never once said anything in any of the classes, always keeping to herself or having headphones on or around her neck. The girl must have felt Chloe's eyes shift to her headphones because she quickly fumbled to pull the headphones from her ears to let them rest around her neck.

"Hi!" Chloe chirped "You must be Rebecca? My mom left your money on the counter in the kitchen. Hold on a second." Chloe turned to head to the kitchen to grab the envelope with cash for the girl.

"My name is Beca," Beca mumbled as she waited out on the stoop the front door open widely in front of her.

Beca couldn't help but appreciate Chloe's choice of clothes while at home, which were a pair of short black exercise shorts with bright blue accents and a razor back tank top that hugged the girls curves. The thought of how she was slightly acting like a teenage boy made her eyes break away to look elsewhere. Beca let her eyes take in what she could of the Beale house from where she stood. She had to admit that the house was pretty nice from what she could see with a nice open interior. Her eyes also watched as Chloe made her way to the kitchen to grab her payment.

Chloe didn't quite hear what she said but knew something was said so when she came back she made sure to ask.

"What did you say?" Her voice friendly.

"I said," Beca's tone slightly sarcastic and harsher than she meant. "My name is Beca."

Chloe's face dropped to a frown. "Oh! I'm so sorry! I didn't know." She reached out to touch Beca's shoulder, but Beca stepped to the side to avoid the contact.

She reached down and grabbed the envelope from Chloe's hand that held her payment and looked up as she took a hold of it. "There's a lot you seem to not know," she mumbled as she pulled it out of Chloe's hand who just stood there in shock. "Thanks." Beca said smirking and turning and walking away.

Chloe stood there in complete shock watching after the small brunette.

Chloe scoffed at the rude little brunette and decided to shake off the icy attitude. The grandfather clock in the corner of the livingroom chimed and Chloe turned to see that it was already 7pm. She had only an hour to get ready for the party so she turned and headed back towards her room.

The thought of not having shoes to wear hit her again as she walked down the hallway to her room. She was passing her mom's room when a sudden thought came to her and she turned to the door. Sure her mom had told her not to go into her closet, but this was a crisis. It wasn't like she wouldn't take care of what she borrowed and she would be home far before her mom so she would never know if she borrowed a pair of shoes. She reached forward and grabbed the handle and turned it. She brushed off the slight guilt and pushed her way into her mom's room and headed over to her closet. She flicked the walk-in closets light on and smiled at the collection of her mom's shoes. Her eyes scanned over all the different pairs in appreciation until a box caught her eye.

Jimmy Choos?! Her mom didn't tell her she got a new pair! She gingerly picked up the box handling it like it was made of gold and walked out of the room and over to her mom's king size bed and set it down. Chloe lifted the lid slowly and her mouth dropped open. Her mom had one of the latest and newest pairs that practically cost $1,000. She knew she shouldn't but Chloe knew these lacy black heels would match per outfit perfectly. Reaching out she tenderly picked one up and daintily put her foot in it.

She a happy sigh left her as she marveled at the perfect fit of the shoe. Looking up she silently thanked a higher being for letting her have the same size foot as her mom. She frowned a little and contemplated what to do. Chloe knew she was overthinking it, even though her mom told her not to borrow anything from her she couldn't deny the serious need to be able to wear these shoes tonight. She was in a fashion crisis! She would take care of them and have them back in the box tonight before her mom got home! She would never know!

Chloe reassured herself with a nod and got up from the bed putting the one shoe back in with its mate before making her way back to her room to take a shower and get ready for the party finally.

Chloe pulled up to Stacie's house and honked the horn to let the leggy brunette know that her and Aubrey were in her driveway waiting.

Aubrey turned to her redheaded friend, "So have you heard from Tom yet tonight since his interview?"

Chloe sighed and shook her head. "No, but I'd rather not dwell on it." She paused for a second. "I mean he's been really stressed and they've been working him pretty hard since he's a freshman there and all."

Aubrey nodded a little not replying, not really trusting what could come out of her mouth. She was saved a little bit by the fact that the front door opened revealing a very revealed Stacie. Stacie waved at the girls before turning and yelling something back into the house and shut the door before sauntering over to Chloe's car. Aubrey rolled her eyes at the girl as she got into the car.

"Hey girls!" Stacie got into the car carefully.

"Jesus Stacie, if your dress was any shorter everyone would assume you were from Australia like Fat Amy since they'd all know what was going on down under," Aubrey scoffed.

Stacie let out a chuckle and Chloe giggled a little bit reversing out of the driveway to shift into drive to start on their way to Bumper's house.

"Oh Aubrey, if you've got it, one has got to flaunt it," Stacie replied.

"Well you're doing a little more than flaunting it…" Aubrey deadpanned.

Chloe cut in defusing whatever sort of retort Stacie had thought up, "Heeeey now, we're almost there no fighting tonight guys!"

"Didn't start it," Stacie mumbled sitting back into her seat a little bit crossing her arms over her ample chest.

Aubrey was touching up her lipstick in the passenger flip down mirror and glared at Stacie. She flipped it up roughly and mirrored Stacie's posture of arms crossed over her chest.

Chloe sighed, these two seemed to always fight about the weirdest things at times. She hoped the two would keep themselves in check tonight at Bumper's party. The idea of trying to defuse the two all night as they argued gave her a headache just thinking about it. Old married couples had nothing on this friendship duo.

It wasn't long or far before the trio pulled up to Bumper's driveway, which was packed. They clambered out of the vehicle. The driveway was packed with cars and so was parts of the front lawn since people had parked there also. Stacie started laughing as they passed one station wagon that was shaking.

"Well looks like station wagon is getting good use of the trunk area," Stacie observed. She stopped when they got close to it and knocked on the window. "Be safe! Let me know if you need a third."

Before either person could reply, Chloe yanked Stacie to follow her and Aubrey. "Stacie, at least make it into the house before you let the hunter loose."

Stacie laughed at Chloe's comment and shrugged. "Sorry, we all know I'm a bit of an exhibitionist."

Chloe sighed and shook her head before letting out a laugh. "I don't know about you sometimes Stace."

She pulled the girl a little closer as the three trudged up the steps onto Bumper's front porch. It was only when they were finally in a lighted space and because Stacie had looked down to double check where her tight short dress was hitting on her upper thighs that she caught glance at Chloe's shoes.

"OH MY GOSH!" She shrieked. "Chloe, when did you get those Jimmy Choos?! They're like his newest ones and cost nearly a grand!"

Before Chloe could even answer Aubrey cut in, "Did Tom send them to you!? You said that he had told you he was sending you a suprise!"

Chloe felt the guilt in the pit of her stomach. She didn't want to lie to her friends, but at the same time she didn't want to let on that Tom was kind of lacking as a boyfriend lately and she wanted to paint him in a good light. Aubrey has been on her case lately about how he was a terrible boyfriend. So to ease the situation she nodded.

"Yeah, the UPS man dropped them off after you two left," Chloe lied.

"Girl you better be careful in those tonight!" Stacie's voice full of concern. "I mean those shoe's are great, but I don't know if I would have worn them out for the very first party of the year. You know how rowdy Bumper's house gets."

Chloe waved off the concern. "Don't worry about me, they and I will be fine tonight. I mean no one is passed out on the front lawn yet like last year, so I think maybe everyone has grown up a little bit and matured for senior year."

Aubrey and Stacie rolled their eyes as Chloe opened the door to the house.

"They're you're shoes," Stacie mumbled as they got sight of the party once the door opened.

To say Chloe's thought of the party being more mature and tame was an understatement. As soon as they opened the door their eyes were filled with half naked bodies riding on cooking sheets down the main stair case by the stairs. Chloe screamed out as one of the party goers came crashing down almost taking her out. She had almost lost her footing, but Aubrey had fast reflexes and was able to get a hand out to catch and steady her.

Chloe turned and gave her a grateful smile and signaled for them to get further into the house. They headed to the kitchen to find some drinks and they were met with their good friend Fat Amy.

"Heeeeeeyyyy Acabitches!" Fat Amy bellowed stumbling over to give them all hugs. "You all made it! Come on and follow me for some of my famous 'Down Under Jungle Juice.' My uncle's friend's brother's cousin taught me the recipe and it's amazing!"

The trio followed their friend over to the punch bowl Amy's concoction was in and excepted the cups Amy handed them. At first sip Aubrey spat half out in shock.

"Shit Fat Amy, what the actual hell did you put in this?!"

"Oooh you know, it's a secret recipe so I'd have let you wrestle a croc and win before letting you know."

"Wrestle a cock?" Stacie asked clearly mishearing.

"No you silly in heat dingo, CROC!"

Stacie's mouth fell into an "o" of understanding and she nodded before mumbling, "It would be more amusing to see tight ass wrestle a cock…"

Chloe heard her and sent her a warning gaze.

"Well come on let's go show these twits how to boogie like kangas!" Amy boomed heading into the living room where people were busy bumping and grinding on each other to the heavy beats of the party music.

The girls danced for a while each one having multiple guys approach them. Chloe had never really had to deal with so many guys like this in previous years since Tom was usually around. Now though since Tom was gone it was like every guy was taking their chance with his absence. After a while Chloe needed to get some space as well as air so she signaled to her friends she was going to go out on the back porch. Aubrey nodded and followed her while Stacie stayed and kept grinding on her dance partner.

The two made it onto the back porch and finally Chloe was able to take a deep breath of some cool air. She walked over to the railing with Aubrey still following and the duo looked around at the party goers hanging around the pool. A few people were skinny dipping and a few were doing questionable things in Bumper's hot tub.

"I'm surprised that the teen pregnancy rate isn't higher at our school," Aubrey scoffed in disgust.

Chloe giggled at her friend's remark. Right as Chloe was about to say something back someone came barreling out of no where knocking into Chloe and throwing her off balance. Chloe tried to remain on her feet but it seemed that one of the heels got stuck somewhere in the wood of the porch and the next thing she knew she was being helped up from Aubrey.

"What the hell kid! Watch where you're running next time!" Aubrey screeched yanking the kid off her ginger friend not caring if she was manhandling the kid.

The scrawny kid scrambled to his feet and ran off not looking back as he dashed off.

"Yeah! You run kid!" Fat Amy hollered coming out just in time to see what had happened she rushed over to where her two friends where. "That kid is lucky I don't have my vertical running shoes on."

Aubrey rolled her eyes as she kneeled down next to Chloe giving her a hand to help her sit up. "Are you ok Chloe?" Her voice was soft and full of concern.

Chloe nodded and used her free hand to push some hair out of her face as she sat up completely.

Meanwhile Fat Amy was glancing over the scene seeing if Chloe was bleeding or broken anywhere. Her eyes caught something and she picked it up.

"While Chloe might be ok her shoe doesn't seem to be," She held one of the heals up in front of the other two friends while the heel point dangled from the main part of the shoe.

Chloe's stomach dropped as tears built up in her eyes. The only word that seemed to escape her lips was:

"Shit."

 _A/N: Hey Everyone! The first chapter gained some reviews or interest so I'll keep this going! If you know the movie be prepared for there to be some changes...or a lot of changes. I'm thinking of trying to intertwine some ideas from both story lines as well as adding my own ideas, so be prepared for these changes. Let me know if there are some ideas or directions you'd like to see happen and I'll see if they fit in with where I'm heading. Thanks for taking the time to read!_


	3. Chapter 3 Mall trips

_A/N: Hey everyone! Thanks for the favorites/likes/comments! I'm glad to know people are enjoying it so far! The feedback is super nice, no matter if it's negative or positive it's a way to grow. I hope everyone will like this next chapter! There's an interaction of our favorite duo! Sooooo Enjooooy!_

Chloe grabbed for the shoe as tears started to blur her vision. This couldn't be happening. The shoe wasn't supposed to break. She was supposed to wear them tonight, put them safely back into the box and return the box to her mom's closet without her mom noticing. It only took one moment to literally crash and break this plan.

Aubrey put a hesitant hand on her friend's shoulder. "Don't worry Chloe, I'm sure if you explain what happened to Tom he'll buy you another pair."

Chloe didn't think she could feel worse than she already felt, but as soon as the mention of Tom and her lie about the shoes was brought up her heart broke even more. She couldn't ask for advice for what to do in this now complicated situation. She had to fix this on her own.

She shook her head and wiped her eyes of the tears starting to fall. "Yeah, it will all be ok." Her shoulders shook a little bit.

She was so screwed.

Beca walked into her room exhausted from cutting grass. She plopped on her bed laying on her back with her limbs spread out every which way. It was a short lived relaxing moment though as she flipped over onto her stomach and reached into her pocket to grab her payment from the Beales. She ripped open the envelope and counted the money. A huge smile breaking the normal permanent scowl that adorned her face.

She did it! She had made enough money to get her new mixing board. The grueling summer spent mowing lawns, cutting bushes, and landscaping was totally worth it. She reached under her bed for the shoe box she was keeping the rest of the money in. Adding the last bit of money to her shoe box had never been so satisfying. She couldn't wait to go to the mall tomorrow after school with Jesse to get her mix board.

Picking up the shoe box she gave it a kiss before sliding it under her bed again. She flopped back over onto her back and stared up at the ceiling with a content grin on her face. She let her mind wander to the possible mixes she would be able to create now and beats she'd be able to tap out. After a few moments her mind went to a familiar thought destination as her mind filled with thoughts of red and blue.

Beca groaned. She had been such a dick to Chloe. The girl had tried to make conversation or at least was sickenly friendly like normal but of course as soon as the upbeat girl uttered the name Rebecca she had shut down. It was Beca. Not Rebecca. She haaaated being called Rebecca. Not that the redhead would have known at all since they had never before talked to each other in all the years they had attended the same schools.

Her chances of ever speaking to the girl again or having any sort of connection were now probably nonexistent since she was a total bitch. The look on Chloe's face when she left and had just grabbed the envelope before walking away was something she never hoped to see again. A mix of shock and like someone had kicked her puppy. Which made Beca feel even worse. Disney Princesses had nothing on Chloe's eyes nor personality. She hoped she could make it up to the girl one day possibly.

The next morning Jesse picked Beca up for school. She had been actually ready and waiting out on her porch with a shoebox sitting on her lap. Jesse popped the trunk so she could safely store it there until they went to the mall after school. He knew the value of what was resting in that box and knew it would kill the small DJ to lose it.

"Good morning," Jesse greeted his friend happily as she slid into the passenger door.

"Back at you," Beca said with just a touch more enthusiasm than normal.

"It's weird when you show the slightest bit of emotion," Jesse chuckled as pulled away from the curb.

The comment earned him a slug to the arm from the tiny DJ.

"Ouch!" Jesse yelped as his free hand not on the wheel went to rub the spot on his arm that Beca had punched. "Gosh I swear you should be a boxer with that swing you've got." A pout gracing his features.

Beca laughed, "Nah, I can't risk messing up this future money maker." Her hand gesturing to her face.

Jesse laughed out, "Conceited much?"

"Nope just sure of myself."

The duo pulled into the school parking lot and Jesse pulled into a part of the lot where the "nonpopular" kids parked. More or less this meant the farthest away from the building spot. Beca let out a huff as she clambered out of her seat and the car. Slightly slamming the door a little harder than necessary.

"Hey! Be nice to Reggie!" Jesse scolded and patted the roof of his car whispering to it affectionately.

Beca rolled her eyes. "Sorry Jess, I just….I get sick of how we never can park closer than this. I guess that would be a perk of being known here."

Jesse nodded his head understanding where his friend was coming from. He walked a little closer to her and looped his arm around her shoulders pulling her close while walking up to the school.

"Well that's a lie…Because I know you!"

Beca shrugged his arm off her shoulders and huffed in irritation. "You know what I mean."

She was answered with a slight chuckle. They continued to walk up to the school in silence. It was only upon entering that they were met with a weird sight, which was a seemingly distressed Chloe flanked on either side by Stacie and Aubrey. She had her back to her locker and she was texting furiously on her phone.

Jesse turned to Beca, "I wonder what happened to Chloe."

Beca broke her gaze from Chloe to look at her friend. "Doesn't matter to us mere mortals Jess, come on lets get to class. The sooner this day is done the sooner I have my mix board."

With that she took off stomping down the hallway leaving a confused Jesse in her wake staring after her. What he noticed though was he wasn't the only person who had watched her walk away.

The school day went by and was pretty uneventful for Beca, pretty typical for her. She went unnoticed and invisible much like usual although there were a few moments where she had felt like someone was looking at her, but when trying to find the eyes she came up with nothing. Brushing it aside and counting down the hours, minutes and seconds until she would have her new mix board in her clutches.

As soon as the bell rang signally school was out for the day Beca was out the door of her homeroom bolting down the hallway towards the entrance. Destination Jesse's car. The one bad thing about rushing to Jesse's car was Jesse wasn't there yet. She paced in front of his car clearly impatiently waiting for her snail of a best friend to get out there to take her to the mall.

Finally the boy emerged from the building behind a group of jocks. Beca shook her head in annoyance, and continued pacing until Jesse made it over to his car.

"Ready?" He asked.

"Yeah! I've been ready for the last 10 minutes waiting her for your slow ass to make it out here." Beca replied as she walked over to the passenger door holding the handle and looking over to Jesse expectantly.

"Woooooow, soooo I've got to be home right now to go do whatever."

When Beca's eyes filled with fear and shock at the prospect of not being able to go to the mall to get her mix board Jesse smirked a little bit. He was glad that he was finally able to put the little attitude diva in her place. The look on her face being something other than a scowl, he started to laugh.

"I'm totally kidding dude," His chuckling growing, "get in loser, we're going shopping."

Beca shot him a glare over the top of the car before yanking the door open and throwing herself into the passenger seat.

"I find it disgusting that I know the movie reference is Mean Girls, but thank you Jesse!" Her eyes giving a hint of gratitude that she always struggled putting into words.

Emotions and feelings were difficult for the small DJ. She avoided them at all costs unless you counted out letting them through her music. Music was where she found her words and where she could express her feelings.

The two pulled into the parking lot of the mall and Beca was practically shaking in anticipation. Jesse reached over to lay a hand on her forearm.

"Ready?"

Beca looked down and moved her arm from under his and reached for the handle on the door.

"Yep!"

She sprang from the car and moved to the trunk. Beca hit the trunk twice as a sign to Jesse to pop the trunk for her. Jesse hit the button before getting out of his car and waiting for Beca to grab her box so they could head into the mall.

"I can't believe this is really happening," Beca's voice filled with excitement as her and Jesse walked into the over crowded and populated mall. Usually Beca wouldn't want to be at the mall at such a popular hour, but she was beyond excited to get to the music store.

"I hope you don't hole yourself up in your room all weekend Beca," Jesse said laughing. "I still expect you to hang out with me and maybe do some gaming or a movie marathon?"

"Jesse, movie marathon?" Beca's voice grumbled. "Never happening. Gaming? Possibly."

"Never hurts to ask," Jesse stated as he walked beside Beca.

They walked down the hallway and finally reached the music store. Beca took a deep breath and looked over to Jesse.

"Never has hard work felt so good," Beca stated looking over to her best friend.

Jesse laughed and looked down at Beca. "Okay, well while you figure out which mix board you're going to go with, I'll be down at the movie store."

With that Jesse gave Beca a pat to her back and then headed off towards his favorite place to buy and rent movies. Beca watched him walk away and smiled. Her friend was such a doofus. She turned her attention back to what was in front of her, she tucked the shoe box she was holding in both of her hands in front of her under her right arm and then gave a nod before striding as confidently as she could into the store.

Chloe hussled as quickly as she could holding the shoe box to her mom's broken Jimmy Choos. She hoped no one from school would see her today, because frankly she was about to embarrass herself and beg the shoe store owner to replace the heels. Dignity was nothing to hold on high today because she knew if her mom found out what happened to her new shoes, she would be dead.

She only had about 2 hours until her mom got home from work. Chloe prayed that this would leave her enough time to beat her mom home and get the shoes into her closet in their proper place. The place that the shoes were currently not, the place where they should have been.

Chloe mentally scolded herself as she dodged past people in the mall. She stopped in front of the door to the store and took a much needed breath. Her chest was tight with anxiety and fear for the unknown future. She barely slept last night with the amount of guilt that racked her conscious. Another deep breath. She had to be confident or at least try to be. One more and she took her first hesitant step into the shop.

"You can do this Chloe," She breathed out as she approached the counter.

Beca was in process of looking over the mix boards and talking to the worker when all of a sudden he stopped talking to her. She looked up from the the current model she was looking at to see why he had stopped talking only to see that his brows were furrowed and he was looking out of the store. Her attention followed his gaze and she turned towards the store front to see what he was looking at.

At first she couldn't see what had caught his attention but then she looked to the store across and her eyebrows rose. There was Chloe Beale in what seemed to look like hysterics. Beca felt her chest constrict and clench at the anguish on the girls face. She couldn't tell exactly what was going on, but she watched as the red cried and tried pushing a shoe box at the uptight worker.

"I told you Miss there are no exchanges permitted." The stuffy worker held his head high and wouldn't even budge an inch to help Chloe out.

Chloe sniffed back her tears. This was not going how she planned.

"But, the heel broke the first time wearing them!" She sobbed. "There has to be some sort of warranty or something! My cellphone has better coverage than this!"

"I already told you. No exchanges." He huffed. "There's nothing I can do for you. So please take your tears and leave before I call security."

Chloe let a sob rack her body as she headed out of the store completely defeated.

Beca watched as Chloe picked up her box and headed to leave the store. She could see Chloe's body heave with the sobs. Somewhere deep within her, something urged Beca forward. Her shoebox still filled with her hard earnings still tucked under her arm. She wasn't sure what she was doing, her mind wasn't following her feet as they left the music store and headed to cut Chloe off before she could get too far away from the entrance of the shoe store.

The music store worker had shouted something out to her probably asking where she was going, but at this moment it didn't matter. An urge to try and help the broken girl was too strong. She felt like she needed to make it up to Chloe, especially try and redeem herself after being such a dick the night before.

"Hey!" Apparently her mouth had caught up to her feet before her mind.

The redhead continued walking, so Beca's pace quickened.

"HEY!" She tried a little louder, yet nothing. "Chloe, Wait!"

Chloe stopped and turned tears soaking her face and confusion now taking over her features. She wasn't sure who could be calling her and wasn't really in the mood to deal with people when she was headed home with a still broken shoe. Maybe super glue would hold the heel? Why was Beca stopping her?

"Hey, are you okay?" Beca panted as she caught up to Chloe finally and the stood in front of each other.

Chloe sniffed a little and wiped her eyes with her free hand not holding the shoe box. She was about to say something but Beca took the pause and tried to fill it nervously.

"I mean clearly you're not since you're crying, but I mean is there anything I can do to help?" She paused a little before rambling again. "I know I was kind of a dick to you last night, but I don't really like being called Rebecca and so I just kind of wasn't thinking and snapped. I just I don't wan you to think I'm a dick or something when I'm not. I'm sorry for rambling like this, but I do it when I'm nervous or uncomfortable. It all just turns into continuous word vomit."

Chloe's sniffles stopped as the tiny brunette in front of her rambled out an apology and asked if she was ok. She was never really one to hold grudges, but it meant quite a bit that the girl was apologizing. It slightly lifted her spirit just a tad.

Chloe took a deep breath and stopped Beca from her continuous rambling. "Thanks, but I'm afraid there's nothing you can really do unless you have about a grand laying around to spend." She sighed. "I broke the heel on my mom's Jimmy Choos last night and now I'm dead. My mom is going to kill me." Her voice hitching in a sob.

Beca's eyebrows rose in shock. "I didn't know a pair of shoes could reach that amount." Her voice a quiet murmur.

"Sadly they can," tears welling up in her eyes making them glassy again.

The box in Beca's hand started to feel heavy to her. Here she was in front of the most popular girl in school. Here she was holding in a shoebox under her arm enough money to help the girl out of a difficult situation. All she could really think of right at this moment beyond seeing the most beautiful blue eyes filled with sorrow and anguish, were the words Jesse had uttered during lunch yesterday.

 ** _"I don't want to look back on high school and wonder what if…."_**

and

 ** _"If we're given a chance to this year we should take it!"_**

Was this going to be Beca's chance? Was she going to take it?

Looking into the blue eyes in front of her gave her, her answer. She reached forward with her free and grabbed Chloe's hand.


	4. Chapter 4 Shoes and Deals

_**A/N: Hey sorry for the delay here! I started a new fulltime job so I'm adapting to the new weird hours...but! I have high hopes for everything I'm working on! So! Please bare with me! This is a little bit of a shorter update, but I wanted to give you all something for now, until we get the good times rolling!**_

Chloe was confused at what was happening. One moment she was walking out of the store trying to calm herself down as tears ran down her cheeks, the next moment she is being stopped and led back into the shoe store. If it wasn't confusing enough at what was happening, then it got even more confusing when she tried to process who was pulling her along.

Literally 24 hours ago the girl had seemed to not want to even talk to Chloe as she tried to make little conversation with her. She wouldn't admit it out loud but today at school she saw Beca for the first time, which kind of made sense to how she had never noticed the girl at all before. It was a little weird, but the girl was practically in ALL of Chloe's classes, but kept to the back of the classrooms and out of the way. Beca kept to herself and didn't even try to make conversation with people.

Chloe found it a little strange but she didn't really know the girl so who was she to really place a judgement on her. She had found herself just observing the girl at times which had served as a good distraction from her worries during the day to not think about her mom's broken shoe's that she had to magically try and fix before she noticed them gone. The distraction that Beca provided with trying to figure out the small brunette proved to get Chloe through a couple of her longer classes, but here she was now being pulled along behind the mysterious girl.

Chloe's confusion spiked when they got to the counter and Beca grabbed for the shoe box she was holding with her mom's broken heel. Beca opened the box, cocked her head as in thought then nodded her head dropped the lid down and pushed the box towards the worker.

"Can I help you?" The workers voice as snoody sounding as his attitude.

Beca rolled her eyes, "What do you think?" She pushed the box closer to him.

"Sorry little missy," The guy sighed clearly annoyed with the two girls and gave them a pointed nasty look to match.

Beca scoffed clearly a little pissed at the man's tone and use of the word missy.

"I already explained to your friend here that exchanges are not permitted with these shoes," He pushed the box back towards Beca and glaring down at her. "She has to buy a new pair, no exchanges."

Beca met his gaze clearly not backing down and she set her own box down on the counter and laid one of her own hands on top of Jimmy Choo box stopping the man's push.

"Look here SIR," her voice dramatically dripping with sarcasm as she said sir. Her eyes holding a hard edge meeting the rude worker. "I am willing to pay for another pair of these exact same shoes."

She lifted the lid of her box and the worker's eyes cut from hers to look in and his eyes widened a little in shock, as well as Chloe's. Neither Chloe nor the worker were expecting to see so much money in there. Chloe's eyes shot open wide and her mouth dropped open in shock as she tried to stop whatever it was that Beca was doing, but Beca turned to her and gave her one hard look that read, "Don't even think to say a word."

Beca turned back towards the worker. "Although I am tempted to take our business elsewhere since you have proven only to be nothing but a presumptuous asshole with an ego bigger than the Pacific Ocean."

The man started to stutter clearly trying to find words to stop Beca as she slammed the lid of her box closed and turned to Chloe grabbing her hand to start to walk out of the store. Chloe had no idea what Beca was doing, so she just followed. Her eyes drifting down to her hand being clasped by Beca's. It was warm and soft compared to the upset brunette's attitude. She didn't know exactly why but she found herself trusting in the warmth and softness of the girl's hand as she followed along.

The worker finally broke from his stuttering stupor clearly not wanting to let the girls go especially since one had a box full of cash. He must have known his superiors wouldn't be too pleased if he chased away a customer who was willing to pay for the newest Jimmy Choos. He scrambled around from behind the counter.

"Wait!" His arm up in the air as if trying to grasp a rope to pull the two girls back.

Beca stopped by the doors and Chloe could make out a hint of a smirk on the smaller girls face before she settled it into a hard and slightly annoyed gaze and turned back to face him. Chloe walked around to stand next to Beca since the girl hadn't dropped her hand when she turned and watched at the girl arched an eyebrow expectantly at the man in front of them.

"If you'll give me a moment please I'll go to the back to grab another pair?" His voice was uncertain and wavering a little not wanting to lose this business after seeing all the cash the brunette had. "Size 8 right?"

Beca looked over to Chloe who gave a small nod of yes. She turned back to the guy to give a, "Yes."

With that the man disappeared quickly through a door to retrieve the new shoes. Beca led Chloe back up to the counter and Chloe just stared at her in shock.

"Why are you doing this?," Chloe's voice soft.

Beca turned to look at her it was then that she realized she was still holding Chloe's hand so she let go as Chloe set the old shoes on the counter slowly. She stood there and tried processing why exactly she was doing what she was doing. What exactly was she doing? She wasn't exactly sure, other than having the ringing words of Jesse still echoing through her mind.

This was her opportunity to try something different this year. To not be unknown and to maybe live a little before going to LA next year. As hesitant as she was to jump on this popularity idea Beca knew that if she ever wanted to make it as a well known DJ she would have to start somewhere with connecting with people. She wanted nothing more than to be able to mix it up in the clubs and produce music one day. The mixes she made now had quite the following on youtube, but no one knew it was her. She was an anonymous DJ with only one person who knew of her talent and that being Jesse.

Her dad knew she made mixes and liked music, but he considered it to be just a hobby and nothing more. He didn't even realize how popular the music was she made or to the extent of how good it actually was. Since Beca's mom had died when she was in middle school, her dad never really took the time to really get to know Beca. Beca's mom was where she got her love for music. Her mom had been a music teacher as well as she did private piano lessons so when Beca was little she had always been surrounded by it.

Beca had been her mother's best student with a natural knack and love for music. She had started tinkering with the piano with her mom practically before she could walk and by the age of 5 she was playing piano music that most her mom's best students took weeks to learn. Beca had been gifted with talent to be able to hear a song and be able to sit down and play it perfectly and this was discovered when Beca was around 6 or 7.

Piano was the first way that Beca had started mixing and meshing songs together. Her mom would just sit beside her and encouraging her with a huge smile. After her mom died in a car crash though, Beca didn't really mess with music for a while until Jesse was able to break through and had shown her a DJ software online. Her piano playing hasn't really happened since the accident though, the memories were just too raw at times when she looked at pianos.

She was pulled from her thoughts though when she wasn't able to reply quick enough to Chloe and the girl continued on after an awkward silence between the two.

"I mean I totally appreciate this, but I don't think I can accept." She paused and looked down and then up into Beca's eyes again. "This is like the nicest thing anyone has ever done, whatever you're planning though I don't think I'll ever be able to repay you though and I can't just let you spend all your money like this."

Beca didn't let her eyes waver from the redhead's and kept them locked trying to let her eyes speak where sometimes her words wouldn't work. It wasn't working though so she cleared her throat looked down to get some confidence built and then looked back into the clear blue eyes that have been haunting her for so many years now, but now she was able to see them up close.

"I know we don't know each other very well, but please let me help you and maybe you can help me in return?" Her voice was soft by the end.

"How could I possibly help you enough to even come close to the cost of a pair of Jimmy Choos?" Chloe's voice whispering in reply and eyes darting over to the back room to make sure the worker wasn't coming back out yet.

"Be friends with me." Beca's eyes opened wide in shock as she realized what she blurted out without thinking. Chloe's head tilted to the side and gave Beca a slightly amused and confused look back. She quickly tried to explain, "I mean like help me be popular? Just by being seen as a friend of yours I think I'd be able to have people actually start to notice me."

Chloe was taken back for a second, not really believing what she was hearing from this girl. She would pay for a new pair of Jimmy Choos for her to be friends with her? Was she nuts? That was like not even fair.

"Are you serious right now?" Her voice light and a little disbelieving.

"Dead serious." Beca looked down. "A friend recently told me to give this year a try and if the opportunity presented itself to make something of myself this year, to take it." She looked up and met the bright blue eyes again. "I mean we don't have to hang out after school everyday and braid each other's hair or anything, but if we can like be seen as friends at school and maybe hang as friends at popular places outside of school I think it could work."

Chloe thought it over in her head. She was desperate to get her situation fixed with her mom's shoes, but she just couldn't help but think she was getting off too easy by simply being this girl's friend for popularity. Looking into Beca's navy blue eyes though, she was met with an honest gaze that was confident in her deal as well as begging her to say yes.

Before Chloe could say anything in reply the worker came running out with the new Jimmy Choos. He gently placed the box on the counter as if they were made of the finest glass, which in Chloe's mind the heels almost were since they snapped so easily the other night.

"Here you go miss!" He slowly lifted the lid off the shoe box as gently as possible so the girls could see the new pair laying perfectly in the box.

Beca looked over to Chloe seeing the girl gnawing on her bottom lip in deep thought. Chloe tore her eyes from the shoes and met the small brunette's eyes.

"Do we have a deal?" Beca asked gently.

"For how long?" Chloe asked softly in return. She didn't mean it as anything negative because she felt like she would be the girl's friend forever if she asked her to be.

Chloe thought she saw the girl stiffen a little and wasn't able to explain that she didn't mean it in a negative way before Beca threw out "one month."

"One month?" Chloe gasp. "Doesn't that seem short?"

"Two?" Beca questioned.

"Ladies," the worker interrupted. "Are you going to get these shoes or do I need to put them away?"

Beca looked over to the worker to give him a pointed look and then looked back over to Chloe and quirked an eyebrow for the girl to answer. Chloe looked between the shoes and Beca a few times and then took a deep breath.

"Deal."


	5. Chapter 5 figuring it out

_**A/N: Hey everyone! So thank you for all the likes and reviews! I like hearing what you're thinking it's super good feedback or just knowing your thoughts is fun too! Also! I want to reassure you all that I am not planning on abandoning this story nor my other! My updates might be slow, but please keep faith that I have every intention of finishing them! I have other stories planned for the future too so hopefully you'll all keep up with those when they start after these finish! Rest assured to anyone who was scared I enjoy this one a lot so I am going to finish!**_

 _ **So! Now, let's get going!**_

The two girls walked out of the shoe store after Beca purchased the replacement heals for Chloe. They walked out to a bench and sat down next to each other to talk over details a little bit. The idea was thrown out in haste and they both wanted to talk about the expectations for this newly purchased friendship. Chloe still wasn't sure how this whole thing was going to work and Beca was still a little taken away by her actions. The opportunity had presented itself and she took it, although it only cost her close to a thousand dollars. She just hoped this wild idea worked.

They sat in silence for a few moments. Chloe with the newly purchased shoes sitting on her lap and looking down at it thoughtfully, while Beca sat with her own shoe box drained of money next to her as she looked at the floor in front of her. Chloe's gaze broke first and looked over to the girl sitting next to her who was deep in thought.

"Sooo," Chloe started.

Beca looked up and met her gaze, "Sooo." her voice echoed in reply.

Chloe couldn't help the small smile that started to creep up on her lips from the awkward and uncomfortable girl fidgeting beside her.

"So we're friends now, yeah?" Chloe tried again.

"Yuup," Beca replied and giving the p an extra pop her eyes shifting out ahead of her.

"So what are some of the guidelines to this friendship? Do I join you at your lunch table or do you join me at mine? How many days after school do you want to hangout? Are you going to want to attend some of the parties?"

Beca's gaze snapped back over to the redhead beside her and her eyes opening a bit wider in shock of all the questions that Chloe asked.

"I didn't really think that far ahead," Beca admitted softly. "I mean you can't really join me at my table." Her gaze drifted to the floor again as she paused.

Chloe sat next to her a little shocked and slightly offended she wasn't allowed to sit at Beca's table. Beca had looked up to see the confused look on Chloe's face and then stumbled on words to try and quickly explain.

"I mean if I had a designated table to sit at you could totally join, but Jesse and I usually don't have a table, only rarely are we able to find one to sit at during lunch break." Her eyes went back down to the floor again a little embarrassed.

Chloe was a little shocked. "Well," the red head's voice wielding some confidence. "Good thing I can make a space for you at my table." She smiled at Beca when the girl looked up to her.

"Are you sure?" Beca asked a little hesitantly.

"Totes!" Chloe chirped happily. Something triggered in her head though from something that Beca had said just a second ago. "Do I need to make a space for your boyfriend Jesse too?"  
Beca's eyes shot open in shock. "Umm, he's not my boyfriend. Gosh, that's gross." Beca cringed a little at the thought. "He's my best friend."

Chloe laughed a little at the girl's reaction. "Well I can make a space for a friend of yours can be a friend of mine!"

"Thanks," Beca said not quite believing this girl in front of her. Chloe was totally as she imagined her to be, a cheerful angel of sorts. The girl's wide grin was infectious and Beca found herself giving a little smile in return until a weird glint sparkled in Chloe's eyes and her grin turned a little devious.

"Is there like boyfriend who I should make room for?" She lightly elbowed Beca in the side. Beca scoffed slightly.

"Dude no. Definitely No." She affirmed. "No boys on this front."

Chloe's head tilted a little to the side giving the girl a slightly questioning look then tilted it back to normal and a grin grew on her face again.

"No worries!" Chloe's voice trying to assure the girl next to her. "I'm sure we can find you a boyfriend after we start hanging out at school!"

Beca rolled her eyes, "There won't be a need for that."

Chloe's mouth fell open in shock and slight disappointment. She was looking forward to the possibility of playing match maker for the girl sitting next to her once she started getting some popularity.

"Why not?"

"Umm," Beca's gaze shifted around for a while before looking back over to Chloe. "Well maybe it's not really known much around the school, but I'm not really into guys." Her brow arching a little bit as her voice kind of rose in question at the end of her statement.

Chloe's mouth dropped open into the perfect "oh" sort of understanding look. She coughed a little and cleared her throat.

Beca wasn't sure what the girl was thinking but she didn't want her to have the wrong idea about her wanting to do this.

"I'm not sure what you're thinking, but please don't think that this is some like weird way for me to like convert you or bring you over to this sinful life or anything. I know you're dating Tom and that you're like super seriously straight and everything, so please like don't like think that this friendship has some sort of ulterior motive or anything." Beca had nervously rambled.

"Woah, calm down." Chloe said softly, reaching a hand over to rest it on Beca's forearm. "I wasn't really thinking of any of that." She tried to assure the clearly anxious girl next to her. "I just more or less wasn't really expecting you not to be into guys."

Beca laughed a little, "was my plaid flannel style not a giveaway?"

Chloe laughed in turn also, "I just more or less thought you were more alternative or something. I mean I just thought it to go along with this whole badass vibe you have going on with the multiple piercings and tattoos you have going on." Chloe's hand was motioning in a circle around Beca gesturing to all she mentioned.

Beca's smile remained in tact. "Alright, if you say so."

Chloe leaned in a little towards Beca and whispered to her as if she was holding the world's biggest secrets. "I actually have a tattoo myself." She leaned back and saw the inquisitive look on Beca's face. She reached her right arm out and pulled up her sleeve to reveal a little lady bug tattoo there.

She looked over to Beca and saw the smile on her face and returned it with a bright one of her own. "And don't worry about the whole boy thing, I'm sure I can find you a girlfriend!"

Beca laughed a little, "Don't strain yourself on that one, I'm not really looking for anything at the moment."

Chloe frowned a little but felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. She took it out and as she went to open up the text she looked at the time on her phone.

"Oh my gosh!" She gasped. "I have like 20 minutes to get home and these shoes in my mom's closet before she gets home and notices that they're gone!" She started to get up and walk away.

"Wait!" Beca called out after her. Chloe stopped and whipped around a clearly frazzled look on the girls face. When she realized she had started to run off without properly thanking the girl who has totally saved her life she slapped her forehead before rushing towards Beca and giving her a huge bone crushing hug.

"Thank you so much again Beca! I'll see you tomorrow at school." She went to turn but Beca quickly reached out and grabbed her arm.

"Hold on just a second." Beca quickly rushed. "Can we just make sure that no one finds out about this?"

Chloe's face softened a little as she decided that she'd have enough time to make it home. "Beca, don't worry about anyone finding out! I won't say a word, because I would look like a terrible person for this too. So as long as you don't say anything I won't either."

Beca let out a sigh of relief. "Ok well, I'll see you tomorrow!" She gave a small wave to Chloe who waved back and started to speed walk to the nearest exit of the mall.

Beca watched the girl quickly leave and went back over to the bench and sat down.  
This year was going to be an interesting one for sure now.

Beca hadn't been sitting alone for long when a body collapsed next to her.

"Hey Becaaw!" Jesse said.

Beca looked over at her friend, "hey Jess."

Jesse looked around Beca, "Am I blind? Or where's your new DJ board?"

'Shit!' Beca thought to herself. She totally forgot why she had come to the mall in the first place. She couldn't just tell Jesse that she had just spent the money to help Chloe out of a situation as well as benefitting herself by in a way buying her way into a popularity possibility and a friendship with Chloe. She cleared her throat buying some time to think up a fib to why she didn't buy her mix board.

"Apparently he's going to have a new one in a few weeks so I'm just going to wait it out I think," Beca inwardly applauded herself for the lie to her friend which he seemed to buy.

"Well that's cool!" Jesse chirped getting up to his feet. "I'm done here, got all the movies I want for the weekend." He raised a bag of movies in his hand. "Ready to go?"

"Only if you promise I don't have to watch all those with you," Beca deadpanned as she got up grabbing her almost empty money box and walking beside her friend out of the mall.

Chloe pulled into her garage and noticed that her mom's vehicle wasn't there yet, so she still had a little bit of time to put the new shoes in their place. She got out of her car grabbing the shoe box while quickly making her way into her house. She was to the top of the stairs when she heard the door from the garage open and close followed by a "Chlooooe, I'm home."

Shit. Chloe took off running down the hallway to her mom's room and to her closet where she placed the box down and made her way out of the room towards her own. She looked around her room with wild eyes trying to figure out where to go so she rushed over to her closet. Chloe figured she would look less guilty if she had a distraction in front of her like trying to choose tomorrows outfit.

"Hi dear! I'm home!" Chloe's mom said coming into Chloe's room taking a seat on Chloe's bed.

"Oh hi mom!" Chloe said trying to control her nerves and regulate her breathing again so she wasn't panting like she had just run a marathon. She walked out of her closet holding a top she was debating on wearing tomorrow and hooked it on the hook behind her door before walking over to her mom and plopping down on the bed next to her.

"So how was the party last night?" Her mom asked.

Chloe took a deep breath trying to calm her nerves, there was no way her mom knew she had borrowed and broken her heels. She had stayed over at her boyfriend's house last night and gone to work from there so Chloe knew she hadn't been home. Or she could only hope she hadn't been.

"Oh you know same old same old." Chloe tried to sound nonchalant about it.

Her mom gave her a weird look. "You really expect me to believe that?"

Chloe's eyes shot over to her mom's looking guilty. This is it, her mom knew. She was dead.

"That's not what I heard from one of my clients today at work. I heard that the party got busted around midnight or so? You weren't there were you?"

Chloe let out the breath she was holding in. Thank goodness her mom still had no idea. She wasn't sure what she would have said or done had her mom heard about the shoe incident.

"Oh! Yeah, I'd left early with Aubrey and Stacie. Although it had been like pulling teeth to get Stacie to leave her dance partner." Chloe sighed out.

"Well I'm glad you three didn't get into any trouble." Chloe's mom said as she pushed herself up from her spot on the bed. "I'm going to go start dinner now, so get started on your homework in the meantime."

"Sure thing," Chloe agreed nodding to her mom rolling off her bed to walk over to her backpack and taking out a few of her books.

She watched as her mom left and let out a sigh of relief when her mom was gone. That had been close. Almost too close for comfort. As she sat down to her desk she let her mind wander to her day and about the deal she'd made with Beca of being her friend. She couldn't help but wonder why now did the girl want to try and see what being popular was. It wasn't all that it was cracked up to be at times. Chloe had always been popular but when she started dating Tom her popularity really took off and even though he was gone now just because she was dating someone who was a college athlete made her even more popular.

It was overwhelming sometimes. There were moments where she wished that she could just slink back and not be in the limelight so much, only because people seemed to always have these ideas of what she was supposed to be like and how she was supposed to act. People always seemed to know everything about her life it seemed at times. So she really hoped that no one saw her and Beca together today at the shoe store.

The brunette was interesting to her for sure, there was a hint of mystery to her. There was something intriguing about her. She was still processing the fact the girl wasn't into guys but frankly girls. Chloe herself never really labeled herself not that anyone really knew about her sexuality, but in her mind love was love. She had found love with Tom and she had been happy when he was with her still in high school. Now though, she barely heard from him. She sighed as she looked down to her book trying to make sense of the equations in front of her.  
Yep this year was really going to be different. She was excited to see what tomorrow would bring interacting with Beca at school. Chloe wondered where she would meet the girl in the morning or if they would meet or if she was supposed to find her. She shook head at herself, she should have gotten Beca's number so she could text her to ask.

Oh well she thought, they'd figure it out tomorrow. The thought of tomorrow brought a smile to her lips.


	6. Chapter 6 - Early Morning Meetings

**_A/N: Hey everyone! The reviews you have all left are super awesome! I'm glad to see that people know the original storyline and love the movie as much as I do! Here's the thing though...I'm adapting it to our favorite duo soo things are going to kind of...how should I say...intermingle at times with the original then flirt with Pitch Perfect characters and then take some spins of my own...I hope everyone enjoys! Feel free to comment I love seeing what you're thinking!_**

The next morning Beca woke up to the sound of her dad banging on her door.

"Beca, wake up! I haven't heard a peep from in there yet and I have to leave early today so you better get your butt in gear!" Her dad's voice loud and slightly muffled through her bedroom door.

Beca growned and rolled to sit up on her mattress. One hand reached for her phone while the other ran over her face trying to wipe the sleep away. Her thumb swiped over her phone to unlock it and saw the time and groaned. She hated the mornings when Jesse couldn't pick her up, because it meant waking up to leave with her dad. As if getting a ride to school wasn't sheer torture enough, the days her dad drove her she had to wake up at the butt crack of dawn which felt like death.

She grunted as she pushed herself onto her feet as she simultaneously tried to free herself from her bedsheets that were wound her legs tighter than a mummy was bound. She stumbled forward and the sheets followed her off the bed dragging behind making Beca sort of look like a mermaid out of water trying to walk on her fin. When she was finally free of her sheets she kickd them back over towards her bed slightly cursing under her breath as she grabbed some black skinny jeans, a black tank and her under garments before heading into her bathroom taking a quick shower.

Beca emerged from her bathroom fully dressed finger combing her hair letting it air dry. She walked over to her closet and pulled out the first plaid flannel in sight and threw it on then walked over to her desk and grabbed her blue beanie. Pulling the hat onto her head she walked back over to her bathroom adjusting it in the mirror before quickly grabbing her makeup and doing a very quick mascara and eyeliner job.

Just as she was setting her eyeliner down her dad knocked at her door again.

"Beca? Are you ready to go?"

Beca rolled her eyes walking across her room to her desk again to grab her backpack, phone, dj headphones which she plugged into her phone as she answered "Yeah, just getting my backpack dude."

She put her headphones around her neck as she opened the door to see her dad with an exasperated look.

"What have I told you about calling me dude?" His voice low and almost a whine of annoyance.

Beca rolled her eyes, "Sorry Daaaaad, it's just a habit." Her voice sarcastically drawing out the a of dad.

"Well it's a habit we must break," He replied ushering her down the stairs and out the door to the car.

As soon as they were in the car Beca put her headphones up over her ears to drown out the sound of her dad talking. He still tried at times to connect with her, but to Beca it was a little too late. When her mom had first passed he had neglected her when she had needed him and now her dad's efforts were weak in her eyes. He still tried though and hoped that one of these days he would be able to get through to her, especially when it came to her future.

He wanted her to go to Barden where he was a professor, but Beca was adamant she was going to LA and she was going to be a producer and DJ. Talking reason to her didn't work and she just didn't understand that she could do that as a hobby. He wanted her to have a more concrete career and a paper document to help her.

Pulling up to the front of the school he was barely able to stop the car before Beca had her seatbelt unbuckled and her hand on the handle saying "Bye."

He sighed as he watched her trudge off towards the school, hoping that one day he'd be able to salvage his relationship with his daughter. He took an extra second to reminisce about the days when Beca and he got along, but those were the days his wife was still alive. It was when she passed away that Beca really shut herself off to the world. He admits he had too for a while, but he was able to come out of it with some time, but by that time Beca had closed herself off and didn't plan to come back out anytime soon it seemed. He was glad that she still had Jesse, but he hoped that this year she would branch out a little more. He pulled away heading off to work, thoughts still on his daughter.

Beca trudged up to the school and was early like usual on the days when her dad drove her so she ran through the options of where she could go to kill time until school started. Library? No…the librarian hated her…Gym? Not a chance..she was pretty sure there were probably a bunch of sweaty jocks in there at this time anyways for early morning practices. This left the choice between going to the art room or the music room. She decided to go with the music area since she could possibly mess around with some instruments if she got bored enough, plus there were always practice rooms.

Mr. Fairfield never cared when Beca was in the music room, he'd always tried to get Beca to join the choir or at least play piano for them. He knew she was talented on it, from attending one of the recitals her mom had put on with all her students when she was still alive. The older man's daughter had been one of her students at the time and he had been lucky enough to watch a young little Beca practically upstage all the older kids with her classical piano solo.

Beca walked down the hallway to the music room and looked around the school. There was no one here yet at this hour so the hallways were easy to navigate. She hated walking the hallways during school hours because she always seemed to get knocked into. She sighed out of relief as she took the first step into the music room feeling at peace with all the instruments around.

Her hands reached up to her ears to remove her headphones and she lowered them to her neck to rest as she looked around debating on which instrument she would play today. An uncomfortable feeling ran through her hands as her sight fell onto the grand piano in the middle of the room. Her fingers twitched as she approached it slowly and walked around it. She reached out hesitantly to lightly run her hand along it taking it in and letting memories surface. Her fingers twitched again almost yearning to play. She was approaching the keys when the door opened.

"Oh Hi!" A perky voice interrupting Beca's memory lane visit and her head snapped over to look at the person.

Chloe woke up earlier than normal for school. She had three things she wanted to accomplish. First she wanted to get a quick work out in, then go to the music area to figure out some music for the Bellas and try and figure out some stuff for her own music. The last thing she wanted to do before school started was try and find Beca.

She wasn't sure what time the other girl would get to the school or what her route would be to class, but she wanted to track her down nonetheless. Chloe figured it was going to be a hard task to find the little alt girl since she seemed to keep to herself from what she saw most days, but she knew she could do it even if that meant waiting at the front of the school for her. The biggest reason to find Beca was to start off appearances, if they were able to walk casually and talk that could be a good start. It would be a start for Beca to be noticed by others and it wouldn't be as weird for Beca to join her for lunch then if she had been seen with her earlier in the day with her.

She showed up to the school super early dressed in her workout clothes, her backpack on her back and a duffle bag over her shoulder with her clothes for the day. Walking to the locker room she put her bags down then walked out to the gym and passed all the basketball boys in the middle of practice. Waving off cat calls she made her way over to the weight room and stretched quickly before hopping onto a stationary bike for her cardio this morning.

After a good and hard workout, a sweaty Chloe made her way to the locker room ready to take a shower. Walking passed the courts she was stopped by Unicycle, who had been good friends with Tom, but who also had a bit of a crush on Chloe.

"Hey Chloe, looking good this morning," Unicycle said with a grin.

Chloe wiped her forehead with her palm really not feeling attractive at all and inwardly rolling her eyes at Unicycle. The kid just didn't get it. Even if she wasn't with Tom, Uni still wasn't her type at all. He was, how does one put it nicely? A bit of a dumbass, but a dumbasss who was talented when it came to sports. That wasn't enough for Chloe though, she wanted, no needed someone who could listen, have meaningful conversation, and had a passion for music like her.

Tom was her first boyfriend. He was who everyone expected her to be with, because he was the captain of the sports teams while she was cheerleader. He was sweet to her and was able to talk at times, but there were moments there were still things missing. Chloe stayed with him though, to keep up appearances.

"Have a good workout?" Oh, Unicycle was still in front of her blocking her path to the girl's locker room eyeing her over.

"Uhh Yeah I guess," Chloe replied scratching crossing an arm over her body and scratching the other one as it hung at her side.

"Uni! Get your ass back here, we're still in the middle of practice you knucklehead!" Coach Smith yelled.

"Shit," Unicycle groaned out as he ran off.

"Thank goodness," Chloe sighed and continued her path towards the locker room.

A nice hot shower later, Chloe emerged feeling fresh. She hummed as she got ready, blow drying her hair into perfect curls, and applied a minimal amount of makeup to enhance her eyes. When she was satisfied she put her duffle in her gym locker and then grabbed her backpack and headed to the music area.

It was still early so the hallways were bare and Chloe navigated her way quickly and with a bounce to her step as she hummed the melody to a song she was working on. When she got to the music area she walked up to the door and opened it walking in.

A smile overtook her face as she was able to accomplish finding Beca this morning and she wasn't even trying yet. It was a pleasant surprise to her morning. She took a moment to watch the girl as she seemed in a trance as she skimmed her hand over the surface of the grand piano in the middle of the room.

She figured she should make it known that she was there, so she took a step back towards the door, opened it and let it close louder then chirped out a greeting.

"Oh hi!"

Beca's eyes snapped up to see the ginger smiling at her. She wasn't expecting anyone to be here this early. No one was ever really here at this hour. She took a step back from the piano as Chloe walked forward.

"Hi," she lamely replied.

"You're here early," Chloe's voice full of happiness and enthusiasm.

"Yeah, not by choice," Beca mumbled loud enough for Chloe to hear which made the redhead chuckle.

"Well I'm happy I found you now so I wouldn't have to try and track you down later!" Chloe said beaming brightly. Had it been anyone else beaming so brightly at Beca she would have made a smarts remark about it being too early in the morning for so much perk, but because it was Chloe, it was ok.

She registered what Chloe said though after a second, "track me down?" Her face filled with confusion.

"Yeah!" Chloe chirped happily. "So we can walk to class together." She must have seen the confusion still on Beca's features because she went on to explain. "I thought a good way for us to be seen together casually before lunch would be to walk to class together, so when you sit with me at lunch it doesn't seem to out of the blue." She was smiling at the end. "Even better now though that I've found you here in the music area!"

Beca's face shown nothing but awe which the redhead just smiled at her. Beca wasn't sure what to say. Clearly the girl in front of her has thought through their deal more than she has. It gave her a warm feeling knowing that Chloe thought of something like being seen with her in a hallway to warm people up to the idea of them possibly being friends. She decided to try and break the silence, after all she would have to get used to talking to people other than Jesse soon.

"So what are you doing here so early?" She tried not to make her voice sound too accusing or negative.

"Oh, I come in early most mornings to work out and sometimes go over Bellas music." Her voice was quickly becoming one of Beca's favorite sounds. If she wasn't able to become popular from hanging with Chloe at least she would be able to look back and say she was able to hang out with Chloe through it all.

"I see," Beca replied. The conversation lulling down a bit.

"Would you like to help me pick out some music for the rehearsal tonight?" Chloe asked.

Beca rubbed the back of her neck and tilted her head side to side in thought. After a while she replied with a "sure".

Chloe lead her over to a filing cabinet where all the music was stored. The two girls filed though silently at first before Beca let out a tiny annoyed puff. Chloe looked over at the girl and gave a small smile.

"Something wrong?"

Beca groaned as she riffled through more music. "You seriously sing this? I mean what century is this from? Scratch that I think my great grandma sang half of these." Beca huffed annoyed.

Chloe laughed, "Yeah this is all we have to choose from. The funding is limited for us so we don't really have many options for what we can sing."

"Dude, you guys need some serious help with this," Beca said in a serious tone.  
"Well when we find it, we'll totally take it," Chloe sighed.

Just when Beca was about to reply saying she could possibly help her group figure out some music, since she was like a musical genius and all, the bell rang disrupting the moment.

"Well, I think I found a couple the Bellas can look at, but let's head to class! I think you're in like almost all my classes, so this is going to be totes easy to be seen together at school." Chloe's voice growing with excitement as she got to the end.

"Sure," was the only appropriate reply Beca could come up with before Chloe grabbed her arm and pulled her along with her out of the room.

This was going to be an interesting day Beca decided. 


	7. Chapter 7 Hallways

_**A/N: Hey everyone! I want to start by apologizing for my absence, if you follow either of my other stories, you know that I'm having some hand issues. I'm not happy with how short this update is, but I didn't want to leave you all thinking I'm not here, when I am, I'm just struggling. I got a steroid shot in my hand to my wrist to see if that's going to help...but it's only left me sort of numb so far...please stick with me! I'll have some good stuff coming up! I just have to get both hands working first!**_

Beca and Chloe walked out of the music classroom together and headed towards their first class they had together. Walking with Chloe down the hallways was definitely something different for Beca. Usually she was able to walk unnoticed down the hallways unless someone accidentally bumped into her and she grumbled a sorry as she would continue on her way. This wasn't the case when walking with Chloe. Walking with her was like walking with a celebrity. She could feel the eyes following her as she walked next to Chloe. Beca could hear the whispering unable to really make out anything specific other than most wondering who the new girl was the Chloe was showing around.

The eyes and whispers were starting to become uncomfortable and the two weren't even halfway to their classroom yet. Chloe was chatting away still about her acapella group and the music that her and Beca had picked out, occasionally she would stop her talking to throw out a few friendly hellos to people who greeted her. Beca wasn't even listening anymore, all the new attention being directed on her was starting to make her a little uncomfortable. Beca's eyes dropped to the ground as she started to fall more behind Chloe slowing her stride slightly thinking that if she wasn't walking right by Chloe people would stop talking and staring at her. That the whispers would possibly stop and people would stop thinking she was either a new girl or stalking Chloe.

Chloe could feel something was off about hallway to the classroom. As a person who was known for breaking into people's bubbles she was aware when Beca started lagging behind her. Chloe peaked at the girl out of the corner of her eye when she turned her head to greet a teacher in the hallway. What Chloe say in her quick glance was Beca shuffling behind her, head down, and hands gripping tightly to the strap of her one shoulder messenger book bag. She could tell that the girl was uncomfortable walking with her at the moment. She had to fix this and quick.

Glancing up ahead she knew they were coming to an empty class room just a few doors down from where they were heading for class, by now only a few stragglers were in the hallway since most students were already where they needed to be, so when Chloe got close to the empty room she stopped quickly, which startled an unsuspecting Beca and she was about two milliseconds away from smashing into the ginger. Before Beca had the chance to, Chloe had whirled around and took Beca by the arm and pulled her after her into the classroom.

"Uhh Chloe, aren't you worried about being late to class?" Beca squeaked out looking up into Chloe's big concerned blue eyes.

"We'll get there, I just wanted to make sure you're ok quick?" Chloe's gaze soft and concerned as she held the small brunette's attention.

Beca reached a hand up to run her hand along the back of her neck. "Yeah," Her gaze fell, "I'm totally fine."

Chloe reached forward and grasped the girls chin lightly as she directed the girl's chin up so Beca's eyes would meet hers again. "If you were totally fine you wouldn't have been trailing behind me like some sort of servant."

Beca was losing herself looking into Chloe's eyes. She was feeling her heart hammer in her chest. She had to get her shit together. Chloe was taken. Chloe had a super successful college star athlete boyfriend. He was a major dickwad, but Beca had to respect that, because Chloe saw something good in him apparently. She felt herself going soft in Chloe's concerned eyes and her warm hand cradling Beca's chin. She couldn't show vulnerability like this.

Reaching a hand up Beca removed Chloe's from her face, instantly missing the warmth. Her movement was slow, buying her a little bit of time and her gaze followed the hands missing quick hurt expression that had adorned Chloe's face as quick as a blink. Beca was also taking the time to collect her thoughts.

Normally Beca would be harsh with her words when she didn't want to show her soft side, but Beca didn't have the heart to speak that way to Chloe. If it was her dad or anyone else, she would have bristled and let her verbal spikes fly, but it was just big blue eyes looking at her with such a soft concern that had the girl retracting her defenses.

Beca wasn't sure what was happening to her, she just knew she genuinely wanted Chloe to like her even if it could only be as a friend. She wanted to have a spot in this girl's life. It was probably too much to ask for since she was paying her to hang out with her. Beca could only hope that after their contract was up that Chloe would maybe still like hanging out with her.

Looking up and being met with blue and red, Beca took a deep breath and backing away.

"I," Beca hesitated and took a short huff of a breath, "I'm just not used to being noticed." She paused but continued before Chloe could interrupt. "It's okay though, I mean I don't know what I was expecting or anything especially since everyone knows and loves you in this school."

A small smile was hinted on the corners of Chloe's mouth, while her eyes were still holding some concern for the tiny brunette in front of her.

"I'm sorry Beca," She started and when Beca's brows quirked in question she explained. "I wasn't really thinking either and sometimes you just have to kind of…" She drifted off trying to figure out how to word what she was trying to say.

"go with the flow even though there are hundreds of eyes watching?" Beca offered.

"yeah," Chloe laughed lightly. "I mean I don't want to scare you, but it's probably only going to get more intense with stares and whispers the more and longer we hang out."

Beca nodded taking a deep breath. She looked up again into Chloe's eyes and they shared a smile.

*Ding*Ding*Ding*Ding*

"Fuck," Beca cursed, "I can't be late again, I'm totally going to get another detention."

Chloe grabbed her arm rushing from the room. "Don't worry Becs," She looked behind her at the girl she was pulling behind her and smiled. "I got this." And punctuated it with a wink.


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: Hey Everyone! I'm so sorry for my absence! I haven't forgotten my stories so get ready! Updates are going to be coming!I can't say they'll be super fast because I'm still struggling with hand issues, but they'll be coming! Your reviews and thoughts really do push me so thank you for those of you who have commented!

Without further ado...

"Woah Wendy, I think you have Peter's shadow following you," Fat Amy commented as Chloe and Beca approached the table.

"Hey guys!" Chloe happily chirped smiling at her table of friends before giving Fat Amy a confused look. "And what?"

"There's a small broody dark character behind you?" Fat Amy asked while throwing some tater tots into her mouth.

Chloe looked behind her and saw Beca's frown, which made Chloe's smile falter only slightly before she threw an arm behind the girl and pulled her up forward next to her. Beca stumbled a little at the sudden pull.

"Everyone, this is Beca," She gestured to Beca. There was a chorus of 'heys' from everyone sitting at the table. "Beca," she made eye contact with Beca, "This is everyone." She gestured to everyone around her.

Beca lamely waved and gave out a quiet "hey" in return.

Before anyone could ask anything Chloe spoke up again. "Beca's going to join us for lunch, so make some room so we can sit down." Everyone shifted around to make room for the two.

Beca sat down across from Chloe and next to Fat Amy. Fat Amy was well known for her wit and humor through the school plus the fact she was probably the only exchange student the school had gotten that never left. She knew who everyone else was at the table also, mostly because of their association with Chloe. Stacie and Aubrey were obviously well known because they had been best friends with Chloe since preschool then there were Jessica and Ashley, Beca still wasn't sure along with the rest of the school who was who, Cynthia Rose who had a mean flow when it came to her rapping skills, Lily who no one really ever heard speak, but she was hands down the best beatboxer. There were a couple of guys too like Bumper, who was known to be kind of a douche, but threw the best parties, Unicycle who Beca had seen show his abs off more than she'd seen him with a book, and Donald he was known for his singing and beatboxing.

"So, because I know everyone sitting here is wondering," Fat Amy started, Beca glanced over to Chloe unsure of what Fat Amy was going to ask, hoping that it wasn't going to deal with why Beca was suddenly sitting with them because the two didn't really come up with a cover for why suddenly they were going to be friends and didn't want to tell about their deal. "How did you manage to escape from munchkin land?"

Beca's head whipped over to look at the heavy Aussie next to her who was sporting a humorous smile. "Excuse me?"

"You know…I won't tell a soul if you actually got kicked out…" Fat Amy whispered just loud enough for people to hear her as she leaned in a little towards Beca to try and make it seem like a secret.

"Funny, but there was no escaping or kicking out. I left when the wicked witch melted…" She said back, but then her voice lowered to a whisper, "But there is a chance that they banished me…I mean I was one of the taller ones."

Fat Amy smiled broadly at the fact that Beca was playing along with her joke. "Well, I guess we'll have to share some stories sometime," the Aussie replied, "I mean I've wrestled dingos and crocodiles simultaneously."

Beca nodded absentmindedly to the blonde Aussie as she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket, so she pulled it out quick seeing she had a text from Jesse.

Movie Junkie: Hey Be-caaaw are you skipping lunch today?

Beca looked over to her usual spot and sure enough, there was Jesse, sitting alone at the cast away table. She wasn't sure what to do at the moment, should she go over and sit with him? Would it be rude to invite him over without permission? She was interrupted from her thoughts by a hand poking her. Beca looked down and followed the hand up the arm to see Chloe looking at her with an inquisitive look.

"You can totes invite your friend to sit with us if that was him texting you," her voice friendly and a warm smile reached her lips.

"Are you sure that's ok? I mean it's kind of packed here," Beca said as she looked down the table.

"Oh, don't worry about it I got this," Chloe chirped smiling signaling Beca to reply back.

Beca turned her attention back to her phone and texted out a quick "Hey I'm part of the ginger goddess gang, you're invited to join too."

She looked up and watched Jesse as he checked his phone. It was almost humorous to watch his jaw dropping reaction and his eyes huge and wide as he looked up to see Beca sitting at the most popular kids table.

She felt her phone go off again.

Movie Junkie: Am I dreaming?!

Be-caw: No, now get ur ass over here!

She looked up to see him quickly grabbing his stuff and swiftly weaving through the tables over to where Beca, Chloe, and Chloe's friends were sitting. His walk got slower the closer he got though, not completely sure where he was supposed to sit. When he was close though Chloe got up from her seat and disappeared for a second before returning with another chair and putting it at the head of the table between Chloe and Beca. Chloe handed the chair to him with a warm smile.

"Oh! Thanks." He hesitantly took the chair and set his stuff down on the ground beside it then sitting down. Beca could only smirk a little while watching her friend run his hands nervously over his legs as he sat at the table.

"Jesse, right?" Chloe broke the tension.

"Oh, ye-yeah, that's me," Jesse stuttered a little taken aback by the fact that Chloe knew who he was somehow.

Fat Amy leaned forward and looked at Jesse, before extending a hand out in offering to Jesse, "Well I'm Fat Amy, if you didn't know, but honestly everyone knows my sexy ass in this school so I'd be surprised if you didn't." Jesse chuckled and took her hand and gave it a quick shake.

"I'm Jesse," he nodded his head at Beca, "Beca's friend."

Stacie leaned over and forward slightly in Chloe's space not that Chloe really seemed to care as she reached around her friend grabbing carrots still. "Beca's friend?" Stacie's voice low and sultry and trying to have bigger implications as to what the two friends truly meant to each other.

Jesse not really catching on to the innuendo of more just nodded his head.

Stacie always curious though continued, "So how long have you two been dating?"

Jesse had just taken a drink of his milk and started sputtering it out trying to cover his mouth with his hand while Beca dropped her sandwich right as she was about to take a bite.

"Woaaaaah," Beca's eyes wide with horror. "Jesse and I are just friends. We're definitely not dating. He's not even close to my type. Shit, no offense Jesse." She quickly looked over to her friend who was still trying to get a handle on not choking to death who just gave her a small wave and nod to give his ok.

Stacie leaned further in and Beca fought to not look down because she knew the girl had an impressive rack and just couldn't let her "teen-boy" hormones take over so she kept her eyes locked onto Stacie's although even that was difficult. The girl was a vixen who knew how to be coy and flirty and right now the girl had on a face that could probably charm the pants off even the most devoted monk.

"Not your type? Can you share what your type is, Beca?" Stacie was going for the kill, her voice low and seductive.

Chloe wasn't sure if Beca wanted to come out to everyone right away, or how many people knew she was gay, so she tried to step in and help. Before she was able to speak though Beca spoke up answering Stacie's question not even batting an eye nor did she even flinch at the question.

"I'm not sure I can give you straight answer to your question," Beca's voice trailed off her face completely void of any sort of hint at emotion. Meanwhile Jesse smacked his hand to his forehead, while everyone else just looked at Beca a little confused.

Beca sighed and rolled her eyes, "clearly that joke went right over everyone…I'm gay, is that a problem?" Her eyes challenging Stacie's.

"Not at all," Stacie replied leaning back with a huge grin and a wink to the smaller brunette. Aubrey seeing this seemed to bristle in her seat and was uncharacteristically quiet so far during lunch.

Beca didn't have a chance to even think of replying before Fat Amy smacked a hand to the small DJs back. "The only problem you're going to have is keeping the Hunter off you." Fat Amy chuckled before adding in a sigh, "If only I didn't like sausage so much, even a blind man could see you two are hot."

Everyone laughed at what Fat Amy said, even Chloe forced out a laugh even though she was a little unsettled by the fact she caught Stacie sending another flirty wink over at Beca. She wasn't quite sure what the feeling arising up was, but she wasn't sure she liked it very much. Instead of trying to figure out the new feeling, Chloe decided to change the topic.

"Fat Amy, have you talked to Bumper about Friday night?" Chloe thought the best way to change the subject was to change it to the subject of parties and when the next one would be.

"Oh yeah!" Fat Amy boomed before lowering her voice so the teacher monitors wouldn't over hear her and possibly tip off the cops to bust the party. "He said that his parents are out of town again, so he's for sure going to throw another biggie then Friday night. You two coming?" Fat Amy turned to Jesse and Beca who were just quietly eating their lunches while everyone buzzed about the party.

"I…" Beca started but was cut off by Jesse.

"Yeah!" He was excited and enthusiastic, he and Beca and never been to any of the parties that had been thrown, so to be invited was surely exciting for the kid. "We'll both be there!" Beca shot him a look at his reply including her.

It wasn't that she didn't want to go, okay maybe it was she really didn't want to go. She just didn't really find it appealing to go to a party where everyone was going to be drunk to the point of stupid and falling over themselves.

"You're going to come Beca?" Chloe asked her face showing excitement.

How could Beca say no now. Chloe now was asking if she was going, which turning down Chloe was something that Beca found pretty much impossible now.

"I…" How was it possible for Chloe's eyes to get bigger and more excited? Beca inwardly groaned, mostly at the fact that Chloe was making it impossible to say no. "I guess I can make an appearance."

The amount of joy and excitement that was on Chloe's face made a little flutter happen in Beca's stomach. She tried to disregard the feeling by turning her attention back to lunch in front of her. That only lasted for what seemed to be a second though because once again Chloe was stealing her attention by her next statement.

"This is going to be so much fun!," She practically squealed.

Beca could only hope that Chloe was right about this.

Before Beca could process how the week was going, it was already Thursday night. The week had sped by and everyday being friends with Chloe brought on a new sort of experience. Beca couldn't wrap her mind around some of the stuff the girl did; whether it was talking her way out of getting detentions for her and Beca being late, including Beca and Jesse in lunches, or helping someone who dropped all their stuff over the ground because someone knocked into them. Chloe was like walking sunshine and for once, Beca didn't really mind being around the warmth and light that was known as Chloe Beale.

It was unnerving she thought to herself as she let her mind wander off from the mix she was currently working on. This seemed to be happening frequently this week, where Beca would start to lose focus on the mixes she was working on and her actions would cease as her mind would run wild with thoughts about Chloe. She shook her head to try and shake off the distracting thoughts and to compose herself to continue working on her mixes.

The night seemed to have other plans though when Beca saw her phone screen light up beside her. She groaned in frustration and reached for her phone only to have the frown start to turn up when she saw she had a text from Chloe.

Chloe Beale: Hey Beca! I was wondering if you'd want to come over to my place after school tomorrow to get ready for Bumper's party with me, Stacie, and Aubrey?

Beca's smile faltered a little bit, while she has enjoyed hanging with Chloe and getting to know her better this week, she has also had the joys of the two best friends. One who seemed to enjoy making her flustered with all her flirting and the other who enjoyed giving her the cold shoulder of shame. Her mind started to try and come up with reasons why she wouldn't be able to join them, but it was like Chloe could read her mind when she felt her phone vibrate again in her hands.

Chloe Beale: I give my word those two will play nice, so don't try and give me some sort of dumb excuse. Jesse told me today that you'd probably try to. ;)

Beca let out a groan and slumped in her chair knowing she wouldn't be able to get out of this now. She now had a solid reason for kicking Jesse's ass, so there was at least that for her to look forward to. Her thumbs hovered over the keyboard as she tried to come up with a reply, not able to think of anything she hit three keys.

OK and send.

Almost immediately came Chloe's reply.

Chloe Beale: Yay! This is going to be so much fun!

Beca wasn't even fully done reading the first message when another popped up.

Chloe Beale: Don't you dare try to hurt Jesse either!

Beca let out a little laugh and typed a response.

Beca: No promises.

Chloe Beale: Don't you dare. The kid truly only has your best intentions at heart and plus this is totes going to be aca-awesome!

Beca: Just because you put aca in front of a word doesn't make it better…

Chloe Beale: Of course it does! You better aca-believe it does!

Beca: I thought about it…and I don't believe it

Chloe Beale: Well Beca, I'm going to change your life so you better hold on for the ride!

Beca paused for a moment to digest those words, because Chloe was right, she was going to and IS changing Beca's life. Beca couldn't help the little flutter of excitement she felt, the future was unknown, but she could only hope that somehow Chloe would somehow be a part of it even after their time was up.

Beca: That's a pretty big statement there Beale.

Chloe Beale: Only when compared to your height it is ;P

Beca: You and your friends…always with the height jokes…

Chloe Beale: We don't mean to "belittle" you…

Beca: ….

Beca: Night Beale.

Chloe: Aww Beca! I'm sorry! I'm done I'm done!

…

..

Chloe: Becaaaaa! You'll still come over tomorrow night to get ready with me right?!

..

Beca: Sigh…yes

Chloe: YAY! I'll see you tomorrow at school to go over dets! Night Beca!

Beca: Night Beale.

Beca set her phone down and shook her head with a slight smile on her face.

"I haven't seen a smile like that on your face in a while."

Beca's head whipped so hard to the doorway she thought she was going to have whiplash. There standing in her doorway was her dad with his arms crossed. The smile that had just been on Beca's face disappeared just as quickly as it had appeared and in replace was a frown.

"What do you need," her voice monotone.

Her dad sighed knowing the moment was lost and his arms dropped from across his chest to his sides almost showing his defeat. He didn't think he would ever be able to break down the walls Beca had built up over the years. If he couldn't he hoped someone would.

He raised one arm up and he nervously ran his hand over his hair a habit Beca unknowingly also did when nervous. Ben knew that Beca wasn't going to like his news.

"Well Becs," he paused and shifted his weight, "the water heater shit out on us…I called and they won't be able to stop here until tomorrow evening…"

Beca's face broke to an even bigger frown, "Are you shitting me?! How do you expect me to shower?"

Ben shifted again in the door way, "Watch your language Becs," He ran a hand over his head again, "and I'll drop you off early at school, they have showers right?"

Beca held her tongue for every foul word that was bubbling up to surface just waiting to erupt and be said in reply. So she settled with "Yes," and turned back to her computer putting her headphones up showing that conversation was done.

Ben let out a huge breath he had been holding, he knew Beca held in a verbal slaughter on him tonight and he wasn't going to push it any further. He took one last deep breath in and let it out before whispering "good talk" and turning and leaving. The morning was definitely going to be interesting.


End file.
